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Kat Maier has been a practicing herbalist for over 30 years and it is clear from her writing in “Energetic Herbalism: A Guide to Sacred Plant Traditions Integrating Elements of Vitalism, Ayurveda, and Chinese Medicine” that she is well versed in her craft. This new book explores the underlying energetic connection with nature that many […]

Gather ‘round, friends! Today only! Two reviews for the price of one! And what a lovely duo we have to delve into. On the surface, “The Wild Dyer” by Abigail Booth and “Natural Palettes: Inspiration from Plant-Based Color” by Sasha Duerr seem in obvious competition with one another. Both books being born and written from

Years ago as a graduate student navigating a faculty-student social mixer, I asked a respected professor about his subject of expertise. After a moment’s reflection, he patiently explained that my question was misleading, that all subjects are interconnected portals to understanding collective experience. Reading “Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning,”edited by Saru

Sometimes when you pick up a book or read a post claiming to be a “guide,” it can fall short of being a functional step-by-step instruction manual on the actual mechanics of the topic. This is not the case with “The Vertical Veg Guide to Container Gardening” by Mark Ridsdill Smith. The book is replete

Whether you’re a gardener, a farmer, or just an eater of food, the production of food is going to change as the climate changes. We’re seeing it already — droughts, fires, extreme heat, torrential rains, changes in habitats, catastrophic weather events that happen regularly. There are depleting soils, more poisons like PFAS in the environment,

It was only by accident that artists Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano created Hortus Arboretum & Botanical Gardens in Stone Ridge, New York, just two hours north of the city. In 1999 they moved to the 3-acre property and immediately began acquiring plants that could be used for their botanically inspired artwork. In their quest

Alan Bergo’s relationship with food and foraging is influenced by both his background in the culinary arts (he’s worked in high-end kitchens across the Twin Cities) and his insatiable curiosity about the world around him. In “The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora” — which, according to Bergo’s well-known blog, is set to be the first

“Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science,” by Enrique Salmón, focuses on 80 plants that are culturally relevant to North American native people. In the introduction of the book Salmón explains what the concept of Iwígara is in his Rarámuri tribe, and how the Rarámuri see themselves as part of an “extended ecological family,” setting

What would a just food system look like? This question is at the heart of Mark Bittman’s newest book, “Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal.” Before he attempts an answer, Bittman brings readers on an epic journey through the history of food, from ancient Mesopotamia to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

“All That She Carried” by Tiya Miles humanizes captive Black people living in “the tear of humanity that was chattel slavery.” Set primarily in the antebellum south, Miles gives readers a tour of the plantations of white enslavers in South Carolina, detailing how infrastructure and society were shaped by the vast fields of rice and